Alumni Hall

Built to house Knox College's literary societies and intercollegiate debate competitions, Alumni Hall is a distinctive and majestic presence on the central campus' north side.

Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, as part of the Galesburg Historic District, it's red brick exterior and distinctive Richardsonian Romanesque Revival architectural style served as a symbolic "front door" to the College. Along with Old Main, Seymour Union, and Seymour Library, Alumni Hall also completes the campus' central quadrangle.

The interior of Alumni Hall is dominated by a central central auditorium which has been host to a wide variety of events over the years and even, for a short time, housed the College's library collection.

Alumni Hall was originally designed to house Knox's 19th-century student literary societies, Adelphi and Gnothautii. For subsequent generations of Knox students, it served as a central hub of campus activities, hosting theater performances in the central auditorium, classes on the first and second floors, and social gatherings in the basement snack bar. Over the years, many campus offices and departments have had their homes here. Some alumni may recall running laps or shooting on the rifle range (not at the same time) on the building's ground floor.

A New Vision
Alumni Hall served as a gateway to the Knox College campus and as a center of academic learning and debate from 1891 until 1978. Since that time, the building has not played a major campus role.

The Knox College Office of Advancement has developed an ambitious restoration plan for Alumni Hall that will return the central auditorium to its former stature, as well as provide permanent homes for the Prairie Freedom Heritage Center and the Lincoln Studies Center. The new floorplan will also accommodate new and improved venues for the College bookstore, mailroom and copy centers, an Art Gallery, coffee bar and lounge, and new conference and meeting rooms.